From the Focal Point

Perspectives of Cultural Policy Development: Access, Cultural Participation and New Audiences

The Department for Culture and Communication of the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), focal point of the Culturelink Network, is a partner in the project Access to Culture - Policy Analysis, funded by the European Commission's Culture Programme. The project is coordinated by EDUCULT (Austria) and includes four other partners - Interarts (Spain), the Nordic Centre for Heritage Learning and Creativity AB (Sweden), Telemark Research Institute (Norway), and the Cultural Policy and Management Research Centre at Istanbul Bilgi University (KPY, Turkey). The project investigated the European and national dimensions of access to culture, analysing and comparing the implementation of the policies on access to culture in different countries, aiming to develop recommendations for raising awareness about these issues both at the national and at the European level. In order to present the results of the project to Croatian audiences, the Department for Culture and Communication organised a round table discussion entitled Perspectives of Cultural Policy Development: Access, Cultural Participation and New Audiences, that took place on 17 April 2015 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. The round table focused on the key challenges and trends for access to culture in Croatia, while putting them in the broader European context.

After the initial introduction to the project's aims, its timeline and the project partners involved, the presentation of the results of the Croatian country report followed, opening the floor for the elaboration of the preliminary results of the comparative report which was executed jointly with partners from Austria, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. The presentation of the research results prompted a lively discussion with over 40 cultural professionals and policy makers. The participants of the round table agreed on the need for more explicit cultural (as well as other public) policies in the field of access to culture, and on better networking and cooperation (in)between cultural sectors on these issues. The participants also noted that the policies for access to culture development need to be long-term, process-based and developed in cooperation with all the stakeholders involved.

The final project output in the form of a final report will be available from IRMO and other project partner websites upon its completion and final editing by the end of June 2015.

The Croatian country report (in English) is available at the following link: http://www.irmo.hr/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Access-to-Culture_Country-report_Croatia_Final1.pdf

For more information on the project, please visit IRMO's website: http://www.irmo.hr/en/projects/access-culture-policy-analysis/

More information on the project can be found at the website of the EDUCULT project coordinator at http://educult.at/en/featured/access-to-culture/

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